The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 2 eBook

with ear-rings and turbans and resplendent with ornaments
of gold. And the earth was covered with limbs
cut off with broad-headed shafts, with heads decked
with ear-rings, and with arms adorned with ornaments.
And in a moment the whole field was strewn over with
bodies cased in mail, with arms decked with ornaments,
with faces beautiful as the moon and having eyes with
reddish corners, and with every limb, O king, of elephants,
steeds and men. And the dust (raised by the warriors)
looked like a thick cloud, and the bright implements
of destruction, like flashes of lightning. And
the noise made by the weapons resembled the roar of
thunder. And that fierce and awful passage-at-arms,
O Bharata, between the Kurus and the Pandavas caused
a very river of blood to flow there. And in that
terrible, fierce, and awful battle causing the hair
stand on end, Kshatriya warriors incapable of defeat
incessantly poured their arrowy showers. And
the elephants of both thy army and the enemy’s,
afflicted with those arrowy showers, shrieked aloud
and ran hither and thither in fury. And in consequence
of (the twang of) bows, endued with great energy,
of fierce and heroic warriors excited with fury, and
of flapping of their bow-strings against their leathern
fences, nothing could be distinguished.[395] And all
over the field which looked like a lake of blood,
headless trunks stood up, and the kings bent upon slaying
their foes, rushed to battle. And brave warriors
of immeasurable energy and possessed of arms resembling
stout bludgeons, slew one another with arrows and
darts and maces and scimitars. And elephants,
pierced with arrows and deprived of riders to guide
them with hooks, and steeds destitute of riders, wildly
ran in all directions. And many warriors, O best
of the Bharatas, belonging to both thy army and that
of the foe, deeply pierced with shafts jumped up and
fell down. And in that encounter between Bhima
and Bhishma, heaps of arms and heads, as also of bows
and maces and spiked clubs and hands and thighs, of
legs and ornaments and bracelets, were seen lying
over the field. And here and there over the field,
O king, were seen large bodies of unretreating elephants
and steeds and cars. And the Kshatriya warriors,
urged on by fate, slew one another with maces, swords,
lances, and straight shafts. And others endued
with great heroism and accomplished in fight, encountered
one another with their bare arms that resembled spiked
clubs made of iron. And other heroic warriors
of thy army, engaged with the combatants of the Pandava
host, fought on slaying one another with clenched fists
and knees, and slaps and blows, O king. And with
the fallen and falling warriors and those weltering
in agony on the ground, the field of battle everywhere
became, O king, terrible to behold, and car-warriors,
deprived of the cars and grasping excellent swords,
rushed at one another, desirous of slaughter.
Then king Duryodhana, surrounded by a large division
of Kalingas, and placing Bhishma ahead, rushed towards
the Pandavas. And so the Pandava combatants also,
supporting Vrikodara, and owning fleet animals, rushed,
excited with rage, against Bhishma.”